Spores
by The Chortling Mermaid
Summary: She had known such a day would come; however, she had always held onto the hope that when it did, she'd be long gone. After all, this hadn't been her doing. But where would they go? All of the trees had eyes, as did the hills and nearly every living fungi. Rated T...could go up to M if it gets violent.


**A/N: Here we go!**

She had known such a day would come; however, she had always held onto the hope that when it did, she'd be long gone. After all, this hadn't been her doing.

But where would they go? All of the trees had eyes, as did the hills and nearly every living fungi.

/0\

 **Beady black eyes.**

Luigi awakened with a sharp gasp. He ran into the bathroom to look into the mirror; to his absolute relief, he found that only his own teary blue orbs stared back.

It had just been a dream.

Now that he tried to remember, he couldn't recall more than a single detail of his nightmare.

 _Those eyes...they were everywhere_. _Watching...waiting._

He flopped forward at the waist and groaned to himself. Sadly, his streak of being nightmare-free had ended at a measly four days. Just for a moment, he let his arms and head dangle down towards the floor.

/0\

The two plumber brothers walked to the Mushroom Kingdom Castle to do their monthly plumbing maintenance. They had just replaced a number of pipes the month before. This was the first month in a long time that there had not been major plumbing problems.

"Hi, Mario...Bros." One of the two guard toads said, hesitantly adding Luigi into the greeting. For some reason the toads had never really taken to Luigi. That was okay; he was kind of used to it at this point.

"Morning, fellas!" Mario greeted jovially, as the second toad unlatched the gate. "We're-a just here to-a check-a the plumbing."

"Great!" The first toad said in his gravelly, yet strangely childlike voice.

As the two brothers entered, they walked around a few stationary toads. It always seemed that the diaper-and-vest-clad citizens did a lot of standing around.

Luigi shuddered without really being able to place the source of his discomfort. It must have been a really bad nightmare this time for him to still be affected by it. Distracted, he nearly trampled a toad who had just been standing in the middle of the hallway.

The pudgy toad let out a little squealing noise and squirmed back up to his standing position.

"I'm-a so sorry!" Luigi cried out, beginning to offer a hand. He cancelled that motion as he realized the other fellow had gotten up. "I wasn't-a looking." Sheepishly, he took the hand he had extended, and adjusted his hat with it.

The toad didn't really react. With an open-mouthed smile, he just stood there.

"Luigi, let's-a go!" Mario exclaimed, many yards ahead. Apparently he hadn't seen what had just occurred. The man in red was evidently really eager to see the princess. Just a few days ago, she had given him a kiss on the cheek—very close to his mouth this time—and Mario was hoping to finally ask her out on a formal date.

"Y-Yeah."

Luigi found himself wondering what would happen if Mario and Princess Peach were to get married. He couldn't really imagine Mario as a king. Perhaps he was getting way too ahead of himself, after all, he'd been dating Princess Daisy for three months and he'd never even imagined _himself_ as a king. The taller plumber shook his head—normally he didn't think this intently about things unless he was in the shower. He enjoyed his simple life.

Well, outside of the occasional adventure which usually involved securing the safety of the princess.

Other than that, he was really just an everyman.

"Hi, Mario...and Luigi." Another toad greeted. They were now by the princess' room, and there was always a guard toad there. Honestly, Luigi didn't get why the toads even bothered; they were utterly helpless in a crisis...not to mention weak to the point where it was pathetic. He shook his head, realizing his thoughts were becoming bitter. What he really needed was a nice, nightmare-free nap.

"Mario, Luigi!" Princess Peach said, as the guard toad let the duo in. "It's always so nice to see you both. Have you come to check the plumbing?" She placed a delacate hand on Mario's shoulder, and allowed her lips to form into a soft smile. Luigi tried not to smirk, as he knew without even looking at his brother's face that Mario was blushing.

Mario nodded fervently. The shorter man always got so flustered around the princess—he'd barely even _speak_ to her. He needed a gentle push. It was interesting; with all the things Luigi feared, women were not among them, yet the brave, heroic Mario still got tongue-tied around the woman he was infatuated with.

"Actually, I'll-a check alone. If there's a problem, I'll-a come back." Luigi said, patting his older other brother's shoulder with a gloved palm. _You can do this, bro._

Mario raised an eyebrow at his younger brother.

/0\

Luigi froze, wrench in hand. He was about to tighten a pipe when suddenly he heard a thud.

Unlike Bowser's Castle, Peach's Castle didn't have stone floors. Her floors were made of a more forgiving substance, and the sound Luigi had heard alerted him to the fact that someone had likely fallen down.

"H-Hallo?" Luigi called out hesitatntly. He began to walk in the direction of the noise. With every step, the feeling of dread incresed exponentially. _What if someone was posessed by a ghost? What if someone just...died?_ _What if—_

He nearly stepped on a red-and-white-capped toad who was convulsing on the floor. It was the same toad he nearly trampled earlier. " _Mamma-Mia!"_ The toad's cap was swollen and was visibly palpaltating. His smile hadn't faded, and his eyes held the look of death. Those beady black eyes left a permanent mark in Luigi's mind. The toad's smile shifted but refused to diminish by any means. It was as if he were enjoying his own suffering.

"I'll go get-a help!" Luigi assured the toad, although he knew it wouldn't do anything. Running as if something vicious were chasing him, he made it to Peach's room in record time. The guard toad then chose that moment to collapse.

Luigi stopped in his tracks and stared as the toad began to convulse just like the other one had.

With trembling hands, the plumber whipped the door open to find Mario's and Peach's faces just inches apart. _I'm never gonna hear the end of this!_ "Hi." He cleared his throat, before returning to his panicked state, "It's an emergency! The toads...They're-a collapsing on-a the floor...a-a-and they're a seizing!"

"I'll-a call Doctor Toadley!" Mario asserted, running over to the phone.

Peach placed a gloved hand over her heart, and tilted her head at such an incline that Luigi was surprised her crown didn't fall off. She sighed, and adjusted her posture. "It...It's no use. He won't be able to help."

"Surely he can do-a _some_ thing!" Mario cried back.

"We have to flee." Princess Peach moved quickly over to her closet and pulled out a suitcase. She rifled through her dresser drawers, and began stuffing items away.

"Don't-a be ridiculious, Princess!" Mario shouted, slamming the phone down. Apparently nobody from the doctor's office had answered. "What's-a going on?"

Luigi's shivers turned into violent trembles. He had never seen the princess act like this before, and he knew something was _very_ wrong. She pulled out facemasks, put one on, handed one to him, and made her way over to Mario who refused it.

"What's-a this for?" The shorter plumber asked, firmly crossing his arms.

" _Listen_ to me, both of you." Peach's tone suddenly became very harsh and whispered. "If you don't put these on, you'll share the same fate as those unfortuneate creatures. Something very dangerous is happening right now. The toads aren't just sick or hurt. We need to _leave_ immediately."

Luigi slipped the mask on, and he watched as Mario finally did the same. The taller plumber looked into the suitcase to see that a large canteen had been thrown in there, along with extra masks, undergarmentss, _pants_ and _plain long-sleeve shirts._ He was honestly surprised the princess even _owned_ such clothing.

"It's a good thing you boys brought your tools." She said with a solemn expression, picking up a bejeweled dagger. "I only have one of these.

Luigi stared warily at his own face's reflection in the glimmering blade. And then, there was an agonizing shreik.


End file.
